


The Witch's Cat

by VolxdoSioda



Series: Tea Time [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Afternoon Tea challenge, M/M, Witch AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 06:46:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16487750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: It all starts with a farmhouse and a white cat with a judgmental stare.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This originally started as the third round in the Tea Time, but has since expanded plot-wise, so I'll be adding on later. But the first chapter at least is what I was able to do with the time given to me by the initial Tea Time timer.

"Dude, is that your cat?"

Noctis glances up at Prompto's words, and then follows the finger he's pointing to the fence at the edge of the corn fields. A large white cat sits there, regal as it stares Noctis and Prompto down with a judgmental glare. It's a sight Noctis has gotten familiar with, these past two days on his new home. 

"Nah, just a stray. Or maybe left by the previous owner. Don't try to pet it - it bites." His poor fingers learned that the first day when he'd gone up to say hello and gotten nipped for his trouble. At least it hadn't broken skin. That cat, whoever it belonged to, definitely wasn't like the sweet little creatures of the fishing hamlets Noctis had spent his life around.

"Looks like it belongs to someone awfully high on the food chain," Prompto offers, and then snaps a picture of it. The cat transfers its glare to Prompto, yowling loud and pointedly. "What, you don't like having your picture taken?"

"Just delete it," Noctis orders, half-exasperated as he hefts another box in his arms. "And then get over here and help me, like you promised you would!"

"Okay, okay, just give me a second, geez." He deletes the photo, tucks the camera in his back pocket, and goes to help Noctis move the rest of his supplies into the house. The cat watches them until evening, changing position twice so it can see them through the windows, before abruptly vanishing like it was never there at all.

"Dinnertime, probably," Noctis offers as he stirs pasta in the pot, Prompto leaning over his shoulder to give a hearty sniff of approval. "Staring down humans all day is hard work, you know."

"Not as hard as moving those boxes. What did you pack in those things, rocks?"

"No, my gaming systems.  Unless you'd prefer I left those back home...?"

"No, no, no, we're good buddy!"

Noctis snickers.

 

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 

Noctis is the son of Regis Lucis Caelum, 113th Witch-King of Insomnia. His life has been a rigorous upbringing of manners and etiquette, training for the day he would one day take over as the cornerstone of the magical community. At least that was the plan, before Noctis abruptly woke up one morning, looked around, and realized he didn't enjoy any of it. 

Telling his dad had been both the easiest and the hardest part of it, because Regis only ever wanted his son to be happy, and he understood that if Noctis didn't enjoy at least  _some parts_ of this job, he wouldn't want to do it, or do it well. Noctis saw it too, and yeah he didn't mind growing plants for the recreational gardens the community needed, or putting up fences or any of that simple labor.  _That_ was enjoyable.

But so little time was spent serving the community, compared to keeping the machine that was the political beast moving. And Noctis had never had tact, never had patience for games like that. He'd much rather call someone to the floor for a beating, and prove himself right in that way, then argue in circles in fits of cleverness for four hours and come out with the smug satisfaction of being made right. 

"Son," Regis says, dead serious, "Tell me where you want to go, and we'll get you there."

Noctis could have cried. How in the name of the Six had he gotten so lucky with his parents?

(His mother Aulea was a fae of the Winter Court, but despite this every winter she stopped by to shower them with gifts and kiss them both on the cheek and tell Noctis stories of the year. She still loved his father, holding his hand as she talked.)

And so for a time, Noctis had traveled along the fishing reefs to the east of Insomnia, trading with the locals and making a name for himself. He went under the nickname 'Noct Gar' while he was around, and if he cropped up in a newspaper a few times and his dad sent him care packages with praise and treats to share with his friends, it was nobody's business but his.

But then he'd found the little dilapidated farmhouse at a crossroads, practically  _swimming_ in leylines that needed repairs. The whole thing was a catastrophic mess that was threatening to blow up - nevermind the ritual spaces on each side. Noctis loved it as soon as he laid eyes on it, even more than the fishing villages that needed help.

Prompto, one of his best friends since childhood, had taken one look at it and proclaimed, "Dude, you're gonna die."

"Yeah," Noctis breathed out, in awe of the amount of elbow grease he was going to have to pull to make this whole place work. "But what a way to go."

And so, a quick message to his dad later, and the property was bought, under his name, and the history of the house was made his to read. Apparently a pair of powerful witches had lived here at one point, but one day they'd up and vanished, and nobody had been left in care of the house since. Which probably explained the cat - a familiar, most likely, hating Noctis for taking up its owners' previous area.

Which is why when the cat yowls and hisses and growls at him, he does his best to show he's not going to hurt it, and lays out food for it - fish freshly caught, cooked lightly, and a bowl of water. The cat always looks at him like he's the dumbest creature it's ever had the misfortune to encounter, for all that the plate with the fish always returns clean and the bowl of water empties over the course of the day.

Noctis figures its as good as it's going to get between him and the witch's cat.

And then Prompto finds the wolf.

 

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 

Noctis is in the process of humming a song for new growth into the area alongside the house that he's claimed as the flowerbeds, the cat perched on the fence to give it optimal staring conditions,  when he hears footsteps on the gravel driveway, and Prompto calling his name in a half-hysterical voice.

"Noct! Noct, uh, got a little bit of a problem, buddy!"

Noctis frowns, picking himself up off the ground and pausing his song, easing it off and letting the spell rest on the ground. Then he dusts off his hands and goes to look.

What he finds is a fuck-all  _massive_ wolf standing up to Prompto's waist, Prompto himself fiddling with the edges of his shirt. "Dude!" he squeaks when he sees Noctis, and gestures to the wolf, who regards Noctis with a bored expression. " _Dude!"_

"What did you do," Noctis asks, because he knows there's nothing natural about this. No regular wolf should be so big. 

"Nothing!" Prompto wails, clutching his hair. "I went out to water the begonias and he was just... there!"

"Does he bite?"

"I don't know, I haven't stuck my hand near his mouth to find out! He just followed me when I came over, so I was hoping you'd know what the hell is going on!"

Noctis hums, and after a moment of consideration, asks, "You do recall the history of this place said there were two witches, right?"

His thoughts are only confirmed when the cat, who has followed him around from the side of the house, gives a  _meow_ of surprise and bolts for the wolf. Who, instead of eating it, rolls over onto his belly and tries to lick the cat while the cat purrs loudly and rubs itself up against the wolf in the closest thing to glee Noctis has ever seen on a cat.

"...can witches even have wolves as familiars?" Prompto asks faintly at last.

"Witches can have whatever they want as familiars, Prom," Noctis says. "It just depends on their magical level and what they're most comfortable with." He waits until wolf and cat are a little less lost in their own world, and then carefully kneels down. "So, I'm assuming you're both at least quasi-intelligent and sentient here. If you're more, I'm sorry. I don't suppose you're hungry at all? And do you have a problem with leftover rib meat?"

The wolf thumps its tail once, giving the approximation of a big grin, and the cat almost seems to give him a nod of approval. Noctis figures that's as good as it's going to get, and goes inside to get a platter and a couple bowls of water.

He returns to find Prompto sitting a polite distance away, while the wolf and cat remain curled together.

"Here you go. It's glazed with barbecue sauce, so careful."

"Can wolves even eat barbecue sauce? Isn't it like, toxic?"

"We're about to find out."

The wolf is only too happy to chow down, and the cat gives an appreciative purr at the additional tuna he's chopped up and laid out in strips for him. The bowls of water go next to each side, and then Noctis gestures Prompto to follow him back to the flowerbeds. He hands the blond a trowel and a packet of seeds, and then digs his own hands back into the earth and resumes humming.

"So, you think they're gonna be okay?" Prompto asks quietly after a moment, "I was reading last night, and it said familiars usually start to lose their magic without their witches around."

Noctis massages deeper into the hard earth, chanting  _soft, soft, roots running deep, softness of earth and new life_ in his head as he hums. "It won't hurt them if they do," he says as he finishes one thread of the spell, the soil turning a paler brown beneath his fingers, "It'll just... they'll be less sentient over time. They'll remember their witch, but they won't recall spells or anything like that. At least they're together now though. Pairings tend to last longer than individual familiars."

"What if the witches come back later?"

Noctis chuckles. "Then I hope to hear how much they love the house and what I've done with the place before they ask me to leave. Don't worry about it, Prom. I've already put feelers out in the community. If they're out there, I'll find 'em."

The sun has begun to sink into the horizon by the time they're done, the sky a painter's portrait of reds and purples. Noctis stretches his fingers, flicking the last little bits of dirt off them as he closes the spell. Little green tendrils have begun to sprout from where the seeds were planted, and the soil is appropriately damp, Prompto following each spell with a bit of water to help the seed survive. At some point, the cat and wolf wandered over, and have been quietly napping behind them. Now they raise up and yawn as Noctis gathers up his gardening equipment and takes it back to the shed while Prompto stretches, groaning.

"Dude, no offense, but your version of gardening would make regular witches cry tears of blood."

"Thanks, I know."

The cat pads over to sniff at the little greens, and then looks at Noctis almost like it doesn't believe Noctis just did this. Noctis snickers at the look. "Yeah, I know. I'm a lazy creature of many talents. Well, no. My magic's always been weird. Gardening, fishing, and protection spells. Not exactly a powerful trinity."

"Better than mine," Prompto says, following him inside the house. "Photography, travel points and arboriculture."

"Something we have in common - plants."

"And weirdness! Our bad luck comes in spades."

He holds the door open for the pair, and after a moment and a glance between, the cat and wolf both come inside. 

"Right," Noctis says, cracking his knuckles. "Your turn to cook, Prom."

"What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

 

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 

"So, the leylines," Noctis says bright and early the next morning. The wolf and cat are still sprawled on the couch in the other room, apparently trusting enough to let Noctis leave their sights. "Are a hot mess, and need to be addressed at the same time as the ritual spaces. Because I don't know what the previous residents were doing here, but there is a lot of powerful residual magic left in those spaces."

"Like Ardyn powerful?" Noctis' creepy uncle dresses like a hobo, but his magic is the pride of the Lucis Caelum line. Mainly because he's the only one that's figured out how immortality works. 

"Not quite that level, but getting there. More like... sex rituals to get a magical boost strong."

Prompto spits out his tea, face turning red as he coughs. In the other room, both the wolf and cat sit up like they've been electrified. 

"Dude," Prompto croaks at last. "I did  _not_ need to know that."

Noctis rolls his eyes. "Prom, how do you think I was conceived? Fertility ritual."

"Yeah, but that's different! Sex magic is just sex using the magic as an excuse!"

Noctis snorts. "Okay, the next time you meet my mother, I need you to tell her that, okay?"

"I'm not stupid!"

He gets up for another cup of coffee as the cat and wolf move into the room. "I'm pretty sure the reason the leylines are as powerful as they are is  _because_ of the sex rituals. Which makes this both easier and harder, because if the ritual spaces get  _used,_ the leylines would sort themselves out. Unfortunately, that requires two pairs of participants, and the desire to actually  _use_ the rituals that were used before." 

He looks at Prompto beneath his lashes, but the blond has his hands in his face and doesn't see it. 

"So, we're going at it the old fashioned way. I'll stand in one space, you'll stand in the other, and we'll see if we can't untangle the lines like a pair of particularly cantankerous vines."

"I like that idea better," Prompto says through his hands.

The wolf sneezes, tongue lolling out. Noctis is pretty sure if he were human, he'd be grinning.

The cat looks... amused. Terribly so. Also like it knows what Noctis is thinking. It probably does.

Noctis looks at the cat and gives a little shrug with his shoulders as if to say  _can't blame me for trying._

The cat slow blinks at him, and Noctis sips his coffee and tucks the thought of debauching his best friend in the ritual space away for another time. 

"Right," he says, when the coffee is all gone, and he's fairly certain he has some idea of what they're about to do. "Let's get this done."


	2. Chapter 2

"No you  _don't..._ stop it, stop it! Nooo..." Noctis curls his hands around empty air, hissing between his teeth, sweat dripping down his body as he fights the pull of the leyline he's working on. On the other side of the field, he can faintly see the bob of Prompto's blond hair as his friend fights with his own leyline. 

 _Cantankerous_ _vines,_ it turns out, was the right descriptor for the leylines. They're old and stubborn, driven deep by the people who laid them out, and wrapped even deeper by the witches who used the ritual spaces before they vanished. 

Noctis lost his shirt some four hours ago, and he's fixing to chuck the pants too, just so he can stop feeling like he's suffocating. His hairs matted to his head, his eyes are stinging from where the sweat keeps dripping down, and with every twist and turn he makes, the leyline fights and struggles back just as hard. He hasn't even gotten to the halfway point of uncurling it yet. 

On the porch, the cat and wolf watch him fight with interest, ears forward, both of their tails flicking and wagging as they watch the poor dumb baby witch struggle against leylines twice his strength.

"Noct!" he hears Prompto wail. "I can't keep this up!"

"Keep going!" he yells back, and his ire strengthens his resolve. He's not going to be beaten by this. He's  _not._ He fights the leyline, pushing it back the way it's supposed to be, and then continues to push even as his muscles scream and his magic feels like it wants to rip itself apart. 

The cat yowls, disrupting his concentration for all of a second. But it's enough to do damage.

The leyline rips itself out of Noctis' hands, and snaps back. He's sent flying, and the scream he hears tells him Prompto's getting the same treatment. He hits dirt and skids, rolling, gasping, until his head slams into a rock and he blacks out.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

When he comes to, he's inside the house, laid out on the couch. His shirt is still gone, and his ribs have been bandaged. There's gauze on his cheek, and on his forehead near his right temple. He can see Prompto at the kitchen table, also bandaged up, and his right arm in a sling. The wolf sits by his feet, watching as he eats a bowl of leftovers from last night. 

There's pressure on his knee, and he looks down to find the cat kneading its paws against his leg, minus the claws. It meows at him, worried, and butts its head against his thigh. 

"S'okay," he mumbles through numb lips. Prompto looks up, dropping his spoon and hastening to his side as he struggles to carefully sit up. "Should have put more thought into that fight."

"Hey," Prompto says, helping him. "Scale of one to ten?"

"Nngh. Probably a six right now. You okay?"

"Eh, mostly. The broken arm is the worst part. But good news! The leylines kind of went back to normal, after they finished kicking the living shit out of us."

Noctis blinks. "What?"

"Yeah, weird, right? I woke up, and this guy," he points to the wolf, "was standing there snarling at the leylines. Your cat was over there yowling loud enough to wake the dead, and the leylines were all shifted back where they were supposed to be. Felt like they were sulking."

Noctis blinks, digesting that. "Huh," is what he finally comes up with. 

But he and Prompto both know that no familiar, no matter how powerful the witch, would have the ability to shift the leylines. And certainly not to push them back to how they  _were._ Only witches can affect leylines, tap into them and shift their course as needed.

As if sensing his thoughts, the cat runs up the length of the couch and leans down to butt its head against his chin, purring. He leans his head towards it, appreciating the soft touch. The wolf trots in from the other room and flops down against Prompto's side, putting its chin up on the couch near Noctis' hand. 

Noctis sighs, and leans back. "We'll figure it out later," he mumbles. "You can take the bed upstairs, Prom. I'll stay down here, tonight."

"Nah," Prompto says, with a cheery grin. "Think you can get up a minute?"

The couch, it turns out, is a fold out bed, big enough to fit four. Well, in this case, two humans, a cursed cat and wolf.

"How," Noctis asks, "Have I lived with this thing for five years and never noticed that?"

"No idea buddy. C'mon, we're putting you in the middle."

He and Prompto end up in the middle, with the wolf hopping up behind Noctis, and the cat curling behind Prompto's head. A clap of Noctis' hands puts the lights out, and then its right back to sleep they all go. 

At some point during the night, Noctis briefly drifts back to consciousness. Or maybe it's just a dream that feels like it - but he hears voices, and there's a solid body behind him, an arm around his hips, instead of a wolf.

 _"--could have been killed,"_  one hushed voice says. There's a faint accent to it, and the person sounds upset. "I should have stopped him. I should have  _known."_

"Ain't your fault, Iggy," the voice of the one behind him says. It's far deeper, richer. "It was an accident, and we made sure it won't happen again. And they know now, so--"

"You think so? The boy-- Noctis, he's sharp, but--"

"He knows. And he's probably plotting a way to fix all this. As soon as he figures out what 'all this' is."

"So long as he never does that again. I don't ever want to see him like that again, Gladio. They're so  _young--"_

He falls back under before he can hear whatever 'Iggy' says after that, and in the morning there's a wolf instead of a cat when he wakes. 

"Ugn, do we have to get up?" Prompto whines into his pillow. "It's so comfortable." At some point during the night the cat has changed position and is now laid across his back, purring as it sleeps. Probably feels like a warm living blanket across his shoulders. 

The wolf behind Noctis - Gladio, if the dream wasn't a dream - sticks his nose into the back of Noctis' neck and whines, sounding just as put out by the idea as Prompto does. 

Noctis' mind is buzzing with questions, but his body is tired and he kind of likes the idea of spending a day relaxing instead of running around fixing things. He's going to need the rest anyway, because if what he's thinking about the cat and wolf is right, the amount of shit he's going to have to research is going to make his brain want to explode out from between his ears.

In the end, he mumbles something about the bed winning out and conks right back out. They spend half the day asleep, and wake up only because their stomachs are grumbling. The cat and the wolf move with them, the cat - Iggy - draped across Prompto's shoulders and the wolf - Gladio - pressed up against Noctis' side, supporting him as they walk. 

"Easy breakfast," Prompto mumbles into the table. "Some fast."

"Greasy?" Noctis asks, looking at their freezer. "Wait, what about burgers and ice cream. That's breakfast, right?"

"Dude," Prompto says. "I'm not picky. Make something."

"Burgers and french fries and tater tots and ice cream it is," Noctis announces, and gets a scandalized look from Iggy for his troubles. "What? It's a proven fact that fat rich foods are good for recovery. They're called  _comfort food_ for a reason, you know."

Gladio huffs at that, laughing when Iggy wrinkles his nose in displeasure and sneezes.

Both wolf and cat vacate the room quickly when the food is done though, because Noctis and Prompto fall on it like a pair of animals. Noctis knows from experience watching a pair of teenage boys eat can be disturbing. There's certainly nothing left by the time twenty minutes have passed. 

"Oh god," Prompto groans. "That was the worst best idea you've ever had." He burps. "Excuse me."

Noctis just gives a thumbs up from where he's leaning back in his chair, content to stare at the ceiling and not even think about the amount of dishes that need doing right now. Later. He'll get them later.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Morning finds Noctis digging through his collection of tomes for information on forced animal transformations. He knows little on the subject - in a few of the stories he had to read throughout high school, animal transformations were always reserved for cheaters, one spouse cursing 'the other partner' to a life bound as a beast, never to be loved by anything other than beasts. But he doesn't know if there's any legitimate truth to it - and if there is, it would mean either Gladio or Iggy is  _the other partner._

He eventually finds something -  _"transformations of forced nature from man to beast are often seen as a sign of domination among the eastern peoples - to take a man and make him lesser than his original form, to make him a servant to his inner creature, and to bind him to the whims of others, is a show of power, not one lightly used."_

"Hmm," Noctis says. "Sounds like-- Oh. Why didn't I think of that?"

Prompto watches from the couch as Noctis grabs the phone and dials a number. Both cat and wolf sit up when Noctis speaks. 

"Uncle Ardyn? It's Noctis. I've got some questions for you regarding a subject I just stumbled across."

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Ardyn, it turns out, knows a hell of a lot about animal transformations. 

_"Been there, done that, was rewarded with four years of my life as a horse for it. Such a beauty I was too. Purebred, according to all my documents. But anyhow, a wolf and a cat you say? Felines are often punished for curiousity, while wolves tend to be more a punishment for brute force used when a subtler hand would have sufficed. But if they lived together, it sounds more like someone tried to go fishing."_

"Eh?" Noctis asks.

He can practically hear Ardyn roll his eyes. _"Someone wanted one of their dicks, and wasn't getting it. Being faithful to one another tends to do that. So they were likely cursed for their refusal, and their partner given the opposite form to prevent any further 'bonding'."_

Noctis can feel his face turning red, and knows  Prompto is staring. He doesn't look up. "So, how do I fix it?"

There's a long pause at the other end of the line.

 _"My dear,"_ Ardyn says at last, gently like he might spook Noctis.  _"What is the opposite of flesh forcibly taken?"_

"Flesh freely given-- oh.  _Oh."_

 _"Indeed,"_ Ardyn says, still gently and not at all amused.  _"You would need to take the elements of the ritual the person used and reverse them - use their opposites. Purify them, and seal it with copulation. I'm assuming darling Prompto is out there with you - so for the sake of explanation, I'll use him. You and he would set up the ritual circle, begin the bonding at five strokes to midnight. At midnight, the two cursed would be reversed, and they would take part in the bonding as well. Four bodies for twice the strength of the original curse, breaking it neatly and returning them to their human bodies. After which, well... you may want to discuss the 'after'."_

"Prompto wouldn't do it," Noctis says, and he sees Prompto twitch up at his name. "He's into girls. Do you think Luna or Ravus would..."

_"Not likely. Luna is scheduled to be married in a year's time to one of your father's magebreakers - lovely chap by the name of Nyx. You should meet him sometime. And Ravus is current on expedition overseas. Your circle has always been small, darling."_

Bitter disappointment wells up in his chest, tightening his throat. "So its Prompto or nothing."

 _"I'm afraid so, dear heart."_ His uncle sound apologetic. He doesn't like disappointing Noctis, and even less when Noctis disappoints himself by being unable to help people.  _"At most, you can ask. And perhaps, if you're able to find a means of communication for the other pair, discuss the 'after' ahead of time. At least set down boundaries. But you musn't push - this must be freely given, all of it. You don't have to love them, but you must at least be willing to touch and be touched. Intimacy is terribly frightening, in all it's own ways."_

And here, Noctis knows it to be true. He's never known others, not like that. Prompto hasn't either. It's a pair of blind men leading the blind, and hoping neither one of them spooks out before the end is up. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

But so was the house, and the leylines, and the ritual spaces. Noctis has conquered the house, conquered the leylines, and he will conquer this too. 

"I'll ask," he says, shoulders lifting. "Worst he can do is say no, right?"

_"Right indeed! And if nothing else, you are more than welcome to bring the pair by for New Years - we'll have access to more bodies then, and might be able to reach out and find someone willing to help them."_

"Thanks, Uncle. Take care."

_"You as well, Noctis."_

He sets down the phone, and takes in a couple of deep breaths.

"Well?" Prompto asks at last. "What'd he say?"

Noctis tries to pretend like his heart isn't thundering out of his chest. He wonders if Gladio and Iggy can hear it. "So, what's the opposite of flesh forcibly taken?"

Prompto's eyes widen a smidgen. It's the only reaction he makes. "So..."

"Yeah."

They're quite for a time. Gladio and Iggy are watching.

"...my name?"

"You're... the only person that can stand with me in the ritual space. Luna's getting married, and Ravus is overseas. And... well, there's never been anyone else."

"Oh."

"Mm."

Prompto bites his lip, fiddles with his earrings, clenches and unclenches his toes. "Give me some time to think about it," he says at last. 

"Yeah," Noctis says. "Course. Take as much time as you need."

"One thing. Do you still trust me?" Prompto looks at him then, and Noctis can tell this is an important question.

"With everything I am, Prom." He's not lying, either. He's always trusted Prompto - always will.

Prompto nods. "I'm gonna head home. You staying?" he asks the wolf. When Gladio doesn't budge, he nods again. "Right.  See you all later, then."

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Prompto stays gone for two weeks. It's the longest time Noctis has ever existed without him.

They've always been joined at the hip, him and Prom. And people, when they got older, remarked on it a lot. Wondering when their anniversary was coming up, or how they met. Noctis has always had to explain that they're not  _together._

Even though he kind of wants to be. Prompto's been his rock, his muse for everything. His drive to get better, to work and not waste away in laziness was because Prompto started being self-conscious about his image, and Noctis wasn't about to just let him suffer alone. So when he dieted Noctis did too, and when Prompto signed up to the gym it was with Noctis by his side.

But this is a turning point. Because it's like Ardyn said - sharing intimacy isn't something you treat lightly. It was weight, meaning, even if you don't want it to. Especially in this case. Prompto's always been about the cute girls, the curves, and to a degree Noctis has liked that too. Boys appealed, but not the way Prompto does. With Prompto, its easy. It's like breathing.

He just hopes he hasn't broken that friendship apart by asking Prompto for this. By asking him to consider having sex with him in a ritual space. Well, not just him. But he's not about to lay everything at Prompto's feet before he even has an answer.

Gladio and Iggy accompany him around the farm now, quiet in their stalwart presence. They don't feel like animals, not anymore. He's kind of amazed he ever pegged them as familiars, because their magic runs so much deeper than that. Half the time they curl it around his own, and it's its own kind of speaking. He can pick up emotions from them, understand what's being said without words. It's a different kind of intimacy, if he thinks about it. The same kind he shares with Prompto - speaking without saying a word. 

From these quiet moments, he learns more about them. Learns that Gladio is steady on his feet, more about action than thinking. Iggy is the opposite, more thoughts than swift action, but he's just as steady. He comes to know that Gladio and Iggy are both early risers, Iggy just a few moments earlier than Gladio. Gladio likes morning runs, while Iggy will lurk near the coffee pot, soaking up its warmth. Noctis suspects Iggy drank coffee, much like he does now. It's also probably why he gets up earlier than Gladio - to turn on the pot. 

For a while, it's just them in the house, overlapping each other, rotating around each other. Noctis keeps up with his garden, and tries not to stare at his phone too often, wondering what Prompto is up to, what he's thinking about. He fixes the porch and gets a few pieces of new furniture. Tidies up the master bedroom, which he'd never bothered unlocking before. Washes and folds the bedding, any clothes that are lying around, puts things back into the closet nice and neat. 

There's signs all over the place, of people still living here. He can see bits and pieces of who Iggy and Gladio were before, little insights to the men behind the bestial bodies. It's nice.

The day Prompto finds him again, he's heading home from a shopping trip - something that once required a car, but now only needs a brief walk. He doesn't expect it, but he stops sharply when he looks up and finds Prompto standing there, leaning against a lamp post, like he's been waiting.

"Prom."

"Hey."

The quiet sinks its claws in, as Prompto straightens and just... looks at him. Noctis swallows.

"You've been okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. Walk with me?"

"Course."

 _Just like breathing,_ Noctis thinks as Prompto starts walking, and he follows. It's so easy, all of it. Even with the awkward question lingering between them. It's simple to pretend they're just going home after a long day of school or work, that things have been hectic, they don't have the energy for speaking. 

"Hey," Prompto says suddenly, when they're a block away from his house. "You trust me, yeah?"

"With everything I am," Noctis says again. 

He has to stop suddenly, when Prompto darts in front of him. He nearly topples over the other boy, going to take a couple steps back, only for Prompto to grab the front of his shirt. He stops. He doesn't know what's happening, but this is important. Something has shifted. He needs to pay attention.

"I want to try something," Prompto says, and looks him dead in the eye. "You trust me?"

His throat is dry, but he nods, and still says, "With everything I am, Prom."

"Keep it in mind then," Prompto says, and pulls.

Noctis can't keep his eyes from shutting when Prompto kisses him. His lips are dry, chapped, and his breath smells faintly of mint. But he knows it's Prompto, knows it like he knows his own reflection in the morning when he wakes up, and Gladio's butting him out of bed with his nose while Iggy yowls downstairs because the coffee pot isn't ready.  _Just like breathing,_ he thinks, and shivers when Prompto threads one hand through his hair, deepening the kiss.  _So very easy._

The girls in school used to think him handsome, think him brave and bold. He had overheard more than one girl whispering what he would be like during a date, whether he'd kiss them with passion until they were left panting, or if he'd be gentler, coaxing them along until they couldn't stand it. 

But the truth of it is this, his knees made weak by Prompto's touches, willingly yielding where Prompto wants him to, going where Prompto wants him to go. It's not even a conscious decision, but rather something he's made over the course of his life - Prompto has been his rock and best friend and has never abandoned him even when he probably should have. When others decided enough was enough. And Noctis has never taken it for granted, and will give up everything he has if it means showing Prompto how much he appreciates him. And there's always more to give.

Prompto finally stops kissing him long enough for him to seize breath, and it feels like popping his head out of water after being down for ages. "Prom," he says, and he means it to come out calm and collected, but his voice rasps and his chest heaves and he thinks he might be struggling to stay upright. Prompto's always been too good with that - cutting his legs out from under him without meaning to. Destroying him.

And Prompto just... looks at him. Rakes him with a slow look from the tops of his head all the way down him, and it  _burns._

Then he smiles, and Noctis can already tell it isn't just one cog in the machine that's shifted course, and changed. It's  _everything._

"Yeah," Prompto says at last, fond and warm, like he's got Noctis' tangible heart between his hands. "I should have known it was always going to be you. Too easy."

"Like breathing," Noctis says, and forces his legs to stop quivering long enough to support him. 

"Like living," Prompto says, and they start walking again, silent. Like nothing has changed. 

"Tell me what we need to do," Prompto asks, later, when he's stirring the stew while Noctis chops up vegetables for the salad. "For the ritual."

Noctis looks up. "You..."

"Yeah. So, how are we doing this?"

"...thanks, Prom."

It certainly wasn't part of the plan, he thinks. But he's not going to say no. He explains what they'll need over dinner - the aspects of the ritual, the spell (more like a curse), and manages to get through the bit about Iggy and Gladio joining them at the end without too much blushing. Iggy and Gladio, done with their own dinners, have stayed listening the whole time.

"So?" Noctis asks, when the silence eats up a bit of time. "If you don't want--"

But then Prompto takes in a deep breath, and his shoulders fall back and his chin lifts, and he gets that same look on his face he got when they were little, and the bullies wouldn't leave him alone. "I think we should hold off for about a year. And I think we should link magics - theirs and ours, if we're going to do this."

When he explains why, Noctis can't help but admit its an idea. After all, he and Prompto know nothing about the two men they're going to be saving, and Iggy and Gladio don't know much about them apart from what they've seen. A year would give them time to get to know each other, and the linking magics would mean at least a rough way of speaking. Emotions can't do nuance, but at least this way, they can still get to know each other to some degree. 

He looks over at Gladio and Iggy when Prompto's done explaining. "It's your call," he tells them, and this time, he can practically  _see_ the human responses. 

This time, when their magics curl together, it feels less like support and comfort, more like an offering. A year to decide if they can do this - if they can step into that ritual circle and be comfortable enough to make it through till the end. 

"Okay," Prompto says, and grins at him. "Then let's get started."

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

A year later, Noctis stares down his uncle over the rim of his wine glass, the older man grinning wildly, eyes glittering with mirth. Somewhere on the floor behind him, Noctis can hear Regis speak with Ignis on matters of his cooking, the two politely trying to pry family recipes from each other's hands, while somewhere off to the side, Gladio is alternating between mingling with his own family and glowering at the fans currently swarming Prompto off on the balcony. Prompto is currently trying to get shots of the clear night sky to send as postcards for their wedding later in the year - his excuse being it would be  _puny,_ given Noctis' name, and Luna would find it funny. So would Ravus, although he'd never admit it. And despite kissing Noctis, Gladio and Ignis on the regular even  _after_ the ritual succeeded, he doesn't seem to grasp when people are hitting on  _him._

At least if its not Noctis, Gladio or Ignis.

"Oh  _well done,_ my boy," Ardyn praises, and Noctis can't stop the red from tinting his cheeks as his favorite creepy uncle (and only one, thank the gods) raises his glass in a toast.  _A toast to your victory,_ he doesn't say, because the Council is going to have a collective stroke when they get the invites for Noctis' wedding in the mail later this year, and that in turn will give Ardyn majority power over the ruling vote, and he  _loves_ it when that happens.

"Love you too, uncle," Noctis sighs, and reaches for the bottle of scotch.


End file.
